Trump Raid Judge’s Order Helps DOJ Drag Out Political Persecution Of Its Biggest Foe
By: Margot Cleveland
August 19, 2022 It is unlikely the public will see the search warrant affidavit anytime soon, especially if the prosecutors play a delay game.
The affidavit used to obtain a warrant to search former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home will be unsealed, and the Department of Justice must justify every redaction it seeks to make to the material, Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart ruled yesterday. While Thursday’s decision represents a victory for the media outlets seeking access to the documents, whether the public sees anything of substance in the short term remains to be seen.
Following the unprecedented raid on the former president and de facto leader of the Republican Party, the Department of Justice agreed to release the search warrant and the accompanying attachments that described the places to be searched and identified the items to be seized. The government also filed an unsealed, but redacted, copy of the property receipt list, and yesterday, with the government’s agreement, the court unsealed the criminal cover sheet, the government’s motion to seal the search warrant, and the court’s order sealing the warrant and related materials.
The Department of Justice, however, refused to unseal the search warrant affidavit used to obtain the search warrant, even as multiple media outlets argued in motions that they had a First Amendment right to access that material. Thursday afternoon, Reinhart heard oral argument on the consolidated motions and quickly made clear he believed some portions of the affidavit needed to be unsealed.
“On my initial careful review … there are portions of it that can be unsealed,” Reinhart told the attorneys. Then, following arguments, the court issued an order finding “that on the present record the Government has not met its burden of showing that the entire affidavit should remain sealed.” The court further directed the government to file under seal, by Thursday, August 25, 2022, “its proposed redactions along with a legal memorandum setting forth the justification for the proposed redactions.”
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https://thefederalist.com/2022/08/19/trump-raid-judges-order-helps-doj-drag-out-political-persecution-of-its-biggest-foe/
